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Usability and SEO usually go hand in hand, with most usability guidelines very similar to SEO guidelines. In general, a site that is well laid out with a clear navigational hierarchy will be equally friendly to both users and search engine crawlers.

Usability is a measure of how easily a site can be used for all types of users. This is often an overlooked element in both site design and development. In terms of marketing, usability can be thought of as a means of designing a site so that users are given every opportunity to perform the action that is desired. During the design and development of a site, and well after, the question should always be asked: is there a clear ‘call to action’ on every page? Is every page effective in conveying the message of the business? Is every opportunity taken to convert visitors into customers?

With increasing search engine traffic, and search engines often delivering traffic to specific deeper pages, it is extremely important, from a marketing perspective, that every single page is geared towards funnelling users to pages that are most likely to have a positive outcome.

Beyond that, there are often elements of a sites design that while functional, are far from ideal in terms of marketing. These elements can include 404 error pages, redirects, dynamic URL’s, Flash, and frames.

If a product, special or other time sensitive item is no longer available, users should be given an explanation of what happened and presented with as much of the sites functionality as possible. For instance, if a user intended to access a site, it is important that if the page no longer exists every opportunity be taken to offer that user full access to the remainder of the site.

Web users will not spend time discovering every page on a site. Instead, they would want access to the information they most need – fast. Anything that hinders a sites ability to give users this access also hinders its ability to effectively generate revenue.

SEO often helps with this task as users are taken directly to the area of the site that interests them and also encourages users to make use of a particular product.

Acidgreen takes the time to discover your business objectives so that your website visitors become customers. Contact us for further information.